Horseshoe



(No Model.) I

W. J. KENT. HORSESHOE.

N0. 530,644. Patented Dec. 11, 1894.

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WITN ESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFI E.

WILLIAM J, KENT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

HORSES HOE,

SPEGIFICATION. forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,644, datedDecember 11, 189 4.

Application filed August 9, 1894.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. KENT, a citizen of the United States,residing in Brooklyn, inthegounty of Kings, State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Toe-Oalks forHorseshoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to horse shoes, and particularly to the class ofhorse shoes known as racing plates.

Racing plates are constructed of extreme lightness and usually withirregular grooved or pointed bottom faces to give the plate thenecessary gripping qualitieswhen the horse is running. One example ofsuch a plate is shown in my application for a patent, filed March 3,1894, Serial No. 502,167. Such plates are usually employed without toeor heel calks when the horse is to run in dry weather or on a goodtrack, but when the race is run on amuddy or soft track it isadvantageous to employ plates having toe and heel calks. Toe calks havebeen applied to such plates by dressing ofi a fiat face at the bottom ofthe toe of the plate and brazing on an edged calk of solid steel havinga triangular cross section, which calk has extended downwardly atsubstantially an angle of ninety degrees to the horizontal of the plate.The heel calks have been formed by bending up the heel ends of theplate. Such toe calks have nocessitated dressing and consequentlyweakening the plate to permit their application to it, and have soondulled and become correspondingly less efficient in use. They have alsoadded undesirably to the weight of the plate.

My present invention aims to provide an improved toe calk particularlyapplicable to racing plates, which shall be extremely light, strong,which will not dull in use, and which will be more effective than thoseheretofore employed.

Serial No. 519,807. (No model.)

through the plate at the extremity of this body and a shoulder or flangeat the upper extremity of this body fitting within and seating againstthe top of the groove in the plate. Preferably the toe is constructedfrom a sheet steel blank folded on itself in arc shape form, thedifferent flaps serving, the one as the front face of the toe, and theother as the rear face and body thereof, and the toe is brazed to theplate, during which operation the spelter employed brazes the flaps ofthe toe together as well as brazing the latter to the plate.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate my improvement as applied tothe well known racing plate now manufactured by me, Figure 1 is a bottomview of the racing plate. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 isa cross section thereof on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan viewof the sheet steel blank from which the toe is formed. Fig. 5 is an edgeview thereof. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan of the completed toe calk beforeits application to a plate. Fig. 7 is an edge view thereof. Fig. 8 is across section thereof on the line 88 in Fig. 6, andFig. 9 is adiagrammatic view showing the manner in which the toe strikes the groundin use.

Referring to the drawings, let' A indicate a horse shoe or racing plateand B the toe calk thereof. The plate A is made of any usual or suitableconstruction. That shown has aflat top bearing face 0, a downwardly andinwardly inclined front face D, a bottom gripping edge E, an upwardlyand inwardly in clined'groove F, and a downwardly and outwardly inclinedbottom G. The .groove F has an upwardly and inwardly inclined outer walla, extending from the edge E upwardly into the body of the shoe, acurved or otherwise suitably formed bottom I), and an inwardly anddownwardly inclined inner wall 0.

The gripping edge E and the groove F traverse longitudinally entirelyaround the bottom face of the plate. At its heels the plate is bentupwardly to form heel calks A. Throughout its body the plate istraversed by nail holes I, which are punched through at'the bottom ofthe groove F.

As thus far described the plate is of known construction.

According to my invention in its preferred 0 form I construct the toecalk B as a separate piece from the plate A, adapted to be brazed orotherwise suitably connected thereto, composed of a single piece offolded sheet metal, having a downwardly and outwardly inclined point oredge and grooves and shoulders on its upper body fitting the contour ofthe gripping edge and bottom face of the plate or shoe and adapted forattachment to this face. As

shown, the toe calk B has a point or edge e o projecting from thegripping edge E of the plate outwardly and downwardly at an anglesubstantially forty-five degrees from the horizontal of the plate, ashoulder f at its upper front side, which shoulder bears on the front ofthe gripping edge E, a groove g, adjacent to this shoulder receiving andfitting the gripping edge, an inwardly and upwardly inclined body hwhich fits and bears against the walla of the bottom face of the shoe orplate, a

0 shoulder or bend i fitting the top of the groove F, and a tongue jpassing through a hole It traversing the plate.

The toe calk may be constructed of any sufficiently hard material, andit may be con- 5 structed of the general form shown in anysuitablemanner, but I prefer to construct it of a single piece of sheetsteel folded upon itself, and to form the necessary point, shoulders,grooves and bearing faces, by bending or using the edges of the steelsheet itself. In

the front flap Z terminates.

the construction shown this is accomplished by means of a punched steelblank J of the form shown in Fig. 4, which has a front flap 1, a rearflap m, and a central or otherwise suit- 5 ably located tongue at. Thisblank is of arc shape and is folded on itself on the line 1), the foldforming the point or edge e ofthecalk,and the flaps l and m forming thebody or reinforce for this edge down to the point q, where Thus thepoint and its reinforcing body constitute an edge of double or foldedmetal of substantially -uniform thickness throughout its length,

whereby, as the point wears upwardly toward the plate it maintains thesame degree of sharpness, since the thickness of its body issubstantially equal, until the plate is reached. The upper edge of theflap Z constitutes the shoulder f, and the space between this edge 0 andthe inner fiapm constitutes the groove g,

while the body of the flap m extends upwardly and inwardly andconstitutes the face -h, and its extreme edge, which is preferablyturned downwardlyas abend 'r, constitutes the 6 5 shoulder 2 which fitswithin and bears against the top of the groove F. The tongue nof theblank is continued upwardly and inwardly at an inclination substantiallysimilar to that of the flap m, and passes through a corresponding hole70, traversing the plate, within which hole it serves as a tongue j forguiding and holding the toe in position on the plate until it ispermanently fixed thereon.

In practice the improved toe calks are stamped out in quantities to fitthe particular plates or shoes for which they are designed, and thenthey are applied to these plates as required. In applying the calk B,itstongue j is passed into the hole is in the plate, and the calk is movedagainst the plate until the gripping'edge of the plate'is well seated inthe groove 9 of the calk, or until the reciprocal faces on the calk andplate properly corre spond, and the parts are held in this positionuntil the brazing operation is completed. Then the calk is properlytempered, whereupon it is ready for use.

In brazing the spelter flows into all surfaces between the calk andplate and into the folds between the two flaps of the calk, and rendersthe parts then practically a single integral piece. The calk has greatstrength, hardness and durability, while its construction is so lightthat the added weight of the plate, due to its application thereto, isbarely perceptible.

In use the projection of the toe calk at an angle downwardly andoutwardly from the toe, brings it substantially into line with thedirection of the thrust as the shoe strikes the ground in running,sothat the calk receivesthe impact of the blow in such a manner that theconcussion due to the shoe striking the ground is transmitted directlyupward through the body of the calk instead of laterally relativethereto. This direct stroke avoids the tendency to bend the point of thecalk either upwardly or rearwardly, and therefore prevents undue dullingof its edge. This inclination of the calk also gives a very perfectgrip, particularly when a horse is running on a muddy or soft track,since it preserves the calk at right angles to the forward thrust givenby the toe as the horse springs, and as the toe then rests in arearwardly inclined position i the calk is then consequentlysubstantially perpendicular to the ground.

It will be seen that my invention provides an improved toe calk forhorse shoes, which is cheap, light and easy of application; and it willbe understood that the invention is not limited to the particularconstruction set forth as constituting its preferred form, since thedetails of its construction and arrange ment can be varied ascircumstances or the judgment of those skilled in the art may dictatewithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is- 1. A horse shoe A, having an outer front wall D agripping edge E at the bottom of said wall, and a wall a. on its underface, in combination with a calk B, having a bearing edge e, shoulder fembracing the wall D in front of said gripping edge E, a groove 9 re-.

ceiving said gripping edge, and a face h embracing said walla, said calkbrazed to said shoe, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A horse shoe A, having a gripping edge E and a groove F on its bottomface, in combination' with a toe calk B, having an edge e, a shoulder fembracing said gripping edge,a face h, and a shouldert' seating in saidgroove, said calk brazed to said shoe, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

3. The improved toe calk for horse shoes, having a downwardly andforwardly inclined edge and upwardly and rearwardly inclined body, ashoulder on its upper face adapted to embrace the front face of thehorse shoe, and a face at rear of this shoulder adapted to embrace theunder face of a horse shoe, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

4. The improved toe calk for horse shoes, consisting of a piece of sheetmetal folded on itself and having at its fold a bearing edge,

and above its'fold faces adapted to fit and be attached to the bottomface of a horse shoe, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The improved toe calk for horse shoes, consisting of a piece of sheetmetal, having flaps l and m folded together and constituting at theirfold the bearing edge of the calk, and constituting above this edgefaces for attachment to a horse shoe, substantially asand for thepurpose set forth.

6. The improved toe calk for horse shoes consisting of a piece of sheetmetal having a bearing edge e, a shoulder f, a groove g, a face h, ashoulder i, and a tongue j, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. KENT.

Witnesses:

GEORGE H. FRASER, CHARLES K. FRASER.

